Apple has just made a major change to the paella emoji
Paella is universally acknowledged to be pretty damn tasty. But, lately, food enthusiasts have been fighting a battle to make the paella emoji more authentic. A battle they've just won.
Apple has updated the appearance of the paella emoji on iOS to reflect the traditional version of the much-beloved dish from Valencia, Spain. In 2016, Emojipedia designed a sample image for the paella emoji featuring chicken, shrimp and peas. This emoji was added to iOS 10.2 in December 2016. But, there was a problem. "To the dismay of the authors of the original paella emoji proposal; the mixed ingredients used by Apple in iOS 10.2 did not match those used in traditional recipes from Valencia," says Jeremy Burge, editor of Emojipedia.
Social media users shared the hashtag #ComboiPaellaEmoji while discussing the "ingredient issue".
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Burge says the first design looked good to him, but he was contacted by Guillermo Navarro -- one of the authors of the original design proposal. "He wanted to let me know that the ingredients we used weren’t part of the traditional recipe from Valencia. "
"A year later, it looks like someone at Apple must have also agreed that this was a change worth making too. I’m sure many in Valencia will be happy with this upgrade to their meal," says Burge.
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The Valencian recipe typically includes chicken, rabbit, a variety of beans, snails and rice. The new and improved emoji features chicken, lima beans and green beans and, importantly, doesn't contain shrimp.
Navarro couldn't be happier with the update. "All the Valencian society and Spain entire is very proud to have its national dish in The alphabet of XXI century (with the right ingredients)," says Navarro.
Anyone for paella?
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
